The FireStarter
by SecretsofPandora
Summary: Lady. AKA Mary. Dante. Enjoy because it's COMPLETE, before game out. AU. Lady's a bad ass and Dante's devil may care 'tude gives her more reason to fume.
1. Firestarter

**_FIRESTARTER_: PRE-DEVIL MAY CRY 3**

Relax. Breathe. Turn around and pretend you didn't see anything. That's right, _Lady_. Take it easy on yourself.

Count to ten if you want. Remember those stupid Yoga classes you took.

Music in my ears. Coming from the left. A car coming around the corner. Time to get these feet moving! Shit. Come on, you little shit feet, move it.

But my hands sizzled, burnt like toast and the scarring flesh was just starting to heal. That's just wonderful. Tasty crisp flesh. Wouldn't the boys at the _Gates of Hell_ just love this? Lady's pretty little hands all black and blue. Awww poor baby. And just when they would utter a few more condescending words my way, I'd slam a fucking arsenal of weapons down their throats.

Yeah. Talk shit to me.

But the car that came around the corner kept driving by in slow degrees. The contents of the automobile were young thugs, bandanas around their greasy heads and wearing dark expensive sunglasses. So fucking bold that they had their monkey arms swing back and forth outside the car window with a fistful of guns.

"Hey Baby!"

They called out with their jeers and sneers. They didn't even seem to notice the burnt flesh at my feet.

Another typical day at the baddest end of the neighborhood. Crime pays around here.

I took aim and shot at their tires, making them swerve and scream, "What the fuck! Bitch!"

Then with another aim, my one eye squinting, I hit the gas. BOOM!

I returned to my healing hands.

Fucking shit. Heal!

The body below me smoked. The smell of flesh stank. Try it sometime. Burn your finger.

No. Better yet. Burn your hair.

That stinks like a mother fuck.

Police cars could be heard a mile away. The clouds of smoke were climbing up to the sky.

I'm a trouble starter.

Shit. I should give a damn about the environment.

Then as if my feet obeyed me with an over delay, I made a run for it. Jumping up on the stairways of the alley ways, hopping over trash cans and stumbling over the homeless that made their homes underneath cardboard boxes, I didn't even notice that someone followed me.

My booted feet slowed to a stop. Each step resounded against the alley and wet pavement. My eyes turned to the left and right of me. There isn't a soul around yet my back felt prickly and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

I looked down at my hands again. Bleeding fuckers. I burned that punk alive.

The music came in droves. And each step I took was taking me closer to the _Gates of Hell._

The sign in neon flickered on and off and Sam worked the doors. He looked me over and shook his head.

"You're too much trouble, Lady. Get out of here."

"Let me in, Sam. I think I'm being followed."

"Your problem. Not mine."

Why not take out my gun on him? Besides, if I could take out a car load of thugs, why not another civilian who gets in my way?

Don't work that way.

A couple of guys I'm familiar with came out. "Hey, Lady! I'm glad you're here!" they looked at Sam and winked at him to let me in.

Sam grunted. He didn't really like me. I've caused one too many fights around here.

And I wasn't no sugar candied girl.

I'm a trouble starter.

"Thanks Tony." I said looking at the dark haired man who put his arm around my shoulders. I took it off non chalantly.

"Aww come on, Lady. You and me are friends right? You do some jobs and you get paid to take care of some undesirables so why do you not let me treat you like one of the guys?"

I laughed and looked over at the other guy, blond and pony tailed. He was part owner of the club but he liked me, I could tell.

"I doubt that you like me that way, Tony." Suggesting he liked guys.

But I doubt he got the joke.

Tony gave me a leering look, glancing up and down at my attire; black shorts, a white tight blouse, severely tied with a leather thick belt that held a bevy of ammunition and the gun hugging at my hip. My red boots to my dark head, I didn't like the way he looked at me but ignored it.

The other man surprised me, "I've got a surprise for you, Lady."

"Oh really? What?" the urge to reply with a smart remark was strong but I bit it back.

Sarcasm didn't fare too well with me.

"Demon at 12 o'clock."

I turned slowly, like some slow moving action film. Every scene of my face, the turn of my dark straight hair pushed back with the swing of the breeze that came in from the open door.

Man with silver hair and red suit.

If that's even a suit. What's he on? Drugs? No one wears red so blatantly like that. Unless he's Santa Claus.

Scratch that.

My eyes squinted. He was wearing a red_ leathe_r jacket. He turned to allow me a view of his naked upper body. Rippling muscles I was expecting but instead got a glimpse of his smooth, yet muscular toned chest.

Not impressed.

"You allow people in here half clothed?"

They shrugged. Guess they didn't think it really mattered when the women in here that worked took their clothes off.

A customers a customer.

I wanted this man.

Like a predator stalking their prey, I walked with the sinew grace of a panther. I've learned early on that silence in footsteps and presence; you can get anywhere and hear everything.

As I neared him. I can smell him.

Raw. Intoxicating.

Demon. No. Devil.

But he was also human. I want him. And the only way I wanted any man with devils blood in his veins is dead.

Before I could reach for my weapon, he was on to me.

Gun at my face and my own weapon facing at his torso.

Slick move. Now what? I breathed a little too heavy. No one was this quick. Not even the stupid demons I hunt.

Just because he was half man would make him_ weaker_, right?

"Lady, you've chosen the wrong guy."

Then with the audacity that made me angrier than I could imagine, he took a swig of whiskey from the counter and had the good grace to tip the waitress, dipping down the cold hard cash in her _Décolletage, _who walked by with a flirtatious smile.

"You have some nerve." I shot back disgustedly.

"Care to explain why you killed that man down the street."

Eyes widened. My lip curled. "Fuck you. Who do you think you are?"

"A Sparda."

JACKPOT!

There was a reason why I wanted him.

"You must have waited a lifetime looking for me." he boldly stated with a lop sided grin.

Cocky.

I'll shove that cocky attitude back down his......

He kissed me.

All I could do was make a stupid noise: MMMMmmmmm. Held fast against his mouth and body, I was sent spiralling downward, along with his strength under a table, then let go and started shooting.

The noise was unbearable. Bullets were hitting against chairs and tables, women were screaming and hiding. Bottles and glasses broke, shattering against the walls.

It took me a split second to realize that there were demons everywhere. And that Dante in his leather red jacket started using quick moves and turns, and in my dumb struck gaze saw sparks, quick as lightning, growls from two headed demons, women making more screams, tables upturned and broken in pieces.

His red jacket flew out from behind, reveal his solid sinewy back and tapered hips.

It was his hidden weapons that my interest went sky rocketing.

Before I could join in, it was finished.

Devastation could not even describe the scene.

Even Tony and the blond guy were hiding during the commotion.

Then he was gone.

My gun in my hand, my other hand ran a shaking finger to my lips.

What the hell? I think I just got a kiss and run deal.

Running out of the club, I could hear Tony and the guys screaming at my back telling me I had caused trouble again.

Dumb shits.

They want me to rid the bar of undesirables but if it had to be in the aftermath of destroyed property, I was responsible.

He was out there, on the rooftops, I just know it.

Making a flip onto a garbage can and piles of boxes, I managed to flip onto the roof and stumbled slightly at the sight of him.

He was waiting for me.

My fingers itched to wipe that smirk from his mouth, him standing there in his cocky self against the white of the moonlight.

I took aim and he deflected it as easily as any video game player with 500 hours of game play under his belt.

"You're the firestarter, aren't you?" he seemed to be amused at my own attitude.

"Would you like a starter test, son of Sparda?"

Lifting up my good hand, sparks combusted, creating a halo of red and blue flame, like those in chemistry class, hot and hotter flames playing in the almost healed fingers of my hand.

Then I threw a flame at him. Hoping to singe him and without any delay, took out my own guns and started shooting blindly, hoping to at least get a piece of leather from his jacket. Throwing my body against the ground I made a quick roll and then double flipped front forward onto the next roof as I saw him getting closer to me. His quick silver movements and the glint of silver of his hair blended with the moonlight.

"Taste this!"

And with a grip of a grenade between my lips, my teeth held and I pulled the cap off, throwing it in his direction.

The sound of police cars in the far distance made my ears perk up to the rest of the noise around me.

BOOM!

A cloud of smoke from the roofs debris, dust everywhere and the Devil walked casually up to me.

"Lady, you've got nerve." he chuckled, already at five feet distance.

"Oh yeah, well, you've got some balls to take whats not given to you."

With that, I pulled out my speciality. Netting gun that explodes a huge expansion of a net that encloses on the victim, trapping them inside like a dolphin in a tuna spidery like ensnarement.

Gotcha!

Clever Devil man. He spread out his dark wings, ripping the nettings easily. Magnificent.

In all my young years of hunting and killing off demons and like, this one was a beauty.

He had me in his hand like putty. Up close I could smell him. Dangerous.

"Little firestarter shouldn't go playing around where she's out of her league." he whispered against my ear.

My body tingled.

Stupid female hormones.

"Big half devils shouldn't think that every girl that crosses their paths lays down their heart." I smugly replied.

With that, I shot him where I felt his hard torso against my breast, feeling the blood soaking my white starched blouse.

He fell over the building.

We were higher than I thought. During our fight, we had jumped over several buildings, reaching heights that could make a person who feared heights double over and puke.

Steadily I looked over.

There was a fear in me that wished he didn't die so soon.

I would be highly disappointed.

But he was gone.

Pushing aside my dark hair behind my ears, I scanned the area and found no one within my view. Smoke was still rising from the car I had shot earlier. Police lights made part of the colors against the blue night.

He was out there.

And I wanted him so bad.


	2. Lady Luck

**CHAPTER TWO: _LADY LUCK_**

**DANTE:**

Better luck next time, _Lady._

The devil hunter walked lazily down the path to his ride.

Hopped on his shiny bike.

This is the part he loved.

Next to kicking some demon ass.

The engine roared beneath the sinew of his body and he knew she'd come for him.

He'll be waiting.

Red jacket flew out from behind him, the weapons hidden in place secured.

The **_would be_ **Devil Hunter rode out towards the overhanging moonlight.

**LADY:**

There was no way she was going back to the _Gates of Hell_.

It was time to give Tony and the rest of the guys some room for things to die down.

In the meantime.

I crossed the street and I quickened my pace.

Hunting your prey was the best part of the job.

Flex and stretch your muscles, that's right, _Lady_.

Breathe in those O2's.

Another fucking night gone by and I'm closer than I've ever been in years.

Was it a vendetta that started my quest?

Staring at the sky, the moon had moved towards the horizon.

Time to make those descriptions for my lovely audience.

Large and luminous. Silver and mysterious.

Simple enough for ya?

Just like my devil man.

I re loaded my guns and stuck them back into place by my hips.

Making a quick run towards my bike, I jumped several feet down some garbage dumpsters.

Eyeing the Chinese restaurant down the alley way, my hunger pangs from a nights adrenaline rush reminded me that I needed to eat.

I chose to ignore it and grabbed a can of soda inside from a vending machine.

Tracking the devil man was not going to be easy.

Think woman think.

You got shit for brains or what? My mind raced.

Sure I'm hard on myself but I couldn't let this go.

I had him in the palm of my hand.

Walking to let my head clear. Breathe, that's right, Lady. Breathe.

He's only a devil and all devils should be exterminated.

Sounds like I'm on a fucking crusade right?

Yeah just call me Lady Constantine and the devils are my enemies.

Heathens all of them.

Shit. No time for history lessons.

My eyes scanned the parking lot.

Hopped on my bike and let the motor run.

Beside me, there were scratches of another cycle, burned in the gravel.

That's funny.

I don't recall another bike next to mine when I parked here.

Blood.

Holy shit. What's that?

I bent over to retrieve the blood spilt on the graveled road.

Breathing in the red black liquid, I compared it to the blood splattered all over my white blouse.

Am I lucky or what?

My motorcycle and I took off at a quick run, leaving a smoke full of cold exhaust from the dropping temperature.

The prickle I felt earlier, the one where I could feel his presence near.

It was back.

It was like my bike took him to his door.

"Lost, babe?"

He stood there in the doorway, leaned up against the frame, with his arms crossed.

I tried not to look at his naked chest.

Didn't he ever dress?

"Like what you see?" he grinned with a laugh.

My eyes flashed and with the quick reflex, took aim and shot.

Did I get him?

My breath seemed to hold. Caught suspended like a fly in a spiders web. Never have I felt as if I were the one being played with.

The slick fucker was behind me, this devil mans arms braced my one arm and twisted it that I cried out.

His soft breath against the side of my ear, flickered the dark hairs curling there and I could feel...

Kicking him where it would hurt was easy.

Are all men, mortal or not, easy to kick in that area?

"Feisty." he laughed.

Why is he having so much fun than I am?

The more I sputtered, the more he seems to_ like_ it.

Yet, I've never seen or met any man or demon so fast. As if he were deliberating my move.

Time to change plan of action..

"Easy there, woman. You're a little slippery one aren't you?"

I stood still. But my senses were acute.

My blood reached levels of anger and I can feel the fire inside.

Indignation and the potty mouth I possessed came rushing through.

His eyes widened, silver sky blue, and for a moment I could see myself in them.

"Language, now, missy. Didn't you ever learn to speak like a lady?"

"Get off me!" I felt my whole body lift up as the flames shot out, pushing him back against the wall and his black wings spread out like a fan.

Adrenaline. Pure power, like an atomic bomb ready to blow up out of my fingers. The Energy of the Gods.

I brought my gloved fist into him, hitting the side of the wall.

A blast blew the brick wall into a great big hole.

Right through the fucking other side of the city walls.

"You need to learn to appreciate property, Lady." he chuckled before he flew out of my range.

My machine guns fired, sending bullets in chaotic disarray to the sky, missing him completely.

"Why don't you tell me why you're following me." he called out. "You got something against my Sparda name? Did my brother have anything to do with this?"

"Do you need to ask?" I could feel myself shaking. A brother? Shit. Like I could handle two at a time.

This ones mine for now. I'll deal with the other Sparda when this one's back in hell. Where they all belong.

Relax. Breathe. You like challenges don't you?

He was gone before I could pretend that I was giving in.

And he was on his bike. Flash of red.

So was I.

We're at a neck break speed. The bridge is approaching.

The city lights alongside the bridge flashed before us like a moving picture scene.

Nearly leveling with his own bike. I could take another shot. How many bullets does it take to get to the devils heart?

One? Two? A Thousand more?

A sudden turn, he cornered those turns at top speed.

Body next to the pavement, just inches away. I could feel the tiny rocks hitting the side of my face and my cheek felt wet.

My hands gripped the throttle. Body lifted up the bike on it's back wheel, and I was flying high.

Come on! Throttle!

Over his bike and beyond.

I landed with a skid and 50 feet, turning with a loud screech and scratching the pavement with a U-turn.

He was coming at me at a fast pace.

Could I stop him?

Sure as hell give it a try!

This time, no more puny guns.

Grenade Launcher. Works every time.

BOOM!

Clouds of red and black smoke blew up the road and the side of the iron bridge went into the harbor.

Devil man came out of the clouds like a avenging angel.

His crimson back jacket flying high above his head, like some kind of a protective shield and I was mesmerized as he kept on going.

DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!

Blue flames shot out from my fingertips. Rising anger and frustration edged at my pores.

Flying over me, his bike never touched the gravel until he reached the end of the bridge.

Then the road straightened.

My own two wheeler barely making way.

Should have gotten a Yamaha.

What the fuck has he got?

Rocket fuel?

Do I smell paraffin?

My machine guns fired rounds at his back.

Several bullets went through his jacket that I was so sure!

He did a wheelie and beside him,

With the wind at our face, my short dark hair whipping against my cheek, I could taste blood.

My own.

"I love a fast woman." He yelled out as he winked

Then went off his wheelie, sending smoke signals in my face.

He was faster than I could even make time to spit.

The tracks he left were so easy to find.

So the cocky bastard wanted me to find him.

In the open air, darkness descended like a cloud of umbrella, and he stood there with his longish white hair covering those eyes.

Propped up against one lone tree in the midst of a park empty place, the devil man gestured to a setting beside him.

On the ground, there were preparations of a small meal.

What the fuck is he on?

A flask of wine.

Primitive. Hmmm. Ignoring my own bodys reaction to the food was more difficult than the chase.

A side of cheese. Some slices of ham and turkey. Bread.

"Sorry I couldn't get anything else nicer. But I doubt you'd let me take you to a restaurant or order a pizza."

Confusion marred my expression. My gun in my hand. I could take aim again but what would that do?

He was obviously immune to my bullets.

Didn't I have holy water and garlic inside them?

Look whos primitive. I know. I couldn't find anything else more suitable. So far it worked.

Until I met him.

Should I go to the Pope and have him bless the water instead?

"Why don't you relax, Lady. You're all tense. If you want to get me, you'll have to try harder than pumping your silly bullets in me."

"So you think you can coax me into eating?"

What was she kidding? She was starving. That Chinese restaurant she saw earlier had made her stomach growl.

A soda full in an empty stomach was no way to get any energy.

I grabbed a handful of meat and started to bite into the bread and cheese all at the same time, without looking away from my prey.

He bent over and leaned towards me. His wicked eyes stared into mine. They were playful.

Dangerous, but I'll kill him when I'm done.

Unless...

"You're not afraid of anything are you, little firestarter?" he lifted a brow.

Unless he killed me...

My mouth stopped chewing. I gulped. If I die. Then I die. But I won't die without a fight.

I've got a hundred or so more demons I've eliminated from this earth.

"Listen, you're taking up my time." he said, "If you want to follow me, go ahead, Lady but I'm not responsible for you."

Then he got on his bike.

"What? What the hell!" I screamed between mouthful of chewed food.

Shit. I hate to eat and run. Bad for digestion.

We were at it again, hot wheels on the black pavement but he was slowing down at the docks.

_The Scandinavian Queen II._

What's he doing here?

He took a swing of his sword and placed itunto his back and as easily as he moved, hopped onto the ships deck, at least a 100 feet high.

I stared.

Stared at the water and the ship.

My whole body shook.

Water. That bloody water out there.

The dark ocean lapped against the ships side, and because it was a large ferry ship, it hardly moved.

Time to get over your fears, _Lady_.

My booted feet moved along the ships flank. The Scandinavian Queen II seats over 300 passengers at one sitting.

How many times have I remembered how ships work?

_Father_.

How many times have you captained your ships?

In the ice polar caps of the north.

I shivered. And I remembered my cause.

Sparda. Sparda's son.

Flashback.

Many ships and lives have been lost when ships sank, or became disabled, after the accretion of ice on decks and superstructures.

Fire on board and there was no escape.

Lives have been lost, Lady. And it's your fault.

Your fucking fault!

Tears were biting the back of my eyes and I cursed the devil man whose tracks I followed.

The blood on my cheek dried.

I stood alongside the railings and the wind whipped my hair around my face, blocking my view of the passageway.

The darkness was overbearing.

Light.

From my fingertips.

So easy.

What I saw was horrific.

And the flame went out.

I was enclosed in darkness again.


	3. Firestarter II

A/N: . I'm keeping my short clipped style in this, it's my experiment and story!If you don't like the plot or style, there's plenty of other fanfictions! But if you like it, thanks. (first a poem by Dante. Don't know what got into him.)

* * *

**A memoir for Lady**

_She glides in and out of my mind,_

_I remember her not._

_I remember her forever._

_But memory is so fragile_

_Like the fleeting days of summer_

_Like a fire meets rain._

_I've got a feeling in my blood._

_And it's her touch that I need_

_Forever in my mind._

_She walks in and out of my thoughts_

_Like a fire meeting rain._

_Out in the thunder,_

_I cry wolf,_

_In the mountain mound,_

_Like a mourning heartbeat._

_In the winter hour and I love the wind in my hair,_

_She taught me_

_All the things I needed to know._

_Firearms_

_The bike beneath my muscles,_

_And I need_

_And I love_

_And I want_

_I cry wolf._

_She glides in and out of my head_

_Like the spring and the summer_

_All cold and warm and full of temperate._

_She is the thunder in my veins_

_And the mourning heartbeat_

_She taught me_

_How to love and to value_

_Life._

_Except for the demons that killed her._

_In loving memory of her love or what must have been:_

_And I want_

_And I need_

_And I love._

Huh? Love? WTF?

by Dante Sparda XXX

Scribbled on the paper brown napkin at the nearest pub, drowned in whisky and beer, doused in the feeling of unfeeling. Throwing darts at the opposite wall, white and black marks. The pointed figure of a female figure just next to it, just causing it to look like her. What the hell was he on anyway? He looked at the bottle, no, 3 bottles of whiskey next to him. Yeah. That's what it was. Drinking whiskey and beer together isn't good for the gut. Especially one as iron tanked as his.

And he re-read the poem, while listening to a Def Leppard 70s/80s music that was blaring in the pub. The poem was ridiculous and romantic. _Too romantic_ for his style but what the hell. It pleased him that he could write like those Byronic freaks.

The urge to throw up was unbearable….

And he allowed himself that honor.

And the story continues:

* * *

**FIRESTARTER II:**

Ain't that a bitch?

The light switched on again.

This time it wasn't from me.

It was as if the entire place lit up a ballroom.

Like some kind of moving picture, or from the old films that depict_ TITANIC_

But this is the modern day world right?

Demons and hunters, hunters and humans, and humans and girls like me.

Girls like me who hunt them down.

Few and far between I know. I like being a_ rare_ breed.

Tables set in orderly fashion, replenished, resplendent, with table cloths that were worth more than one persons rent down in the city I came from.

But where was the vision I saw?

Disappeared? What shit is this?

I approached cautiously. If that devil man is lurking around here, I can't be too careful.

And another plan.

My bullets do shit to him.

Funny how much this vision before reminded her of an incident from her girlhood.

_Father?_

Was it possible to miss someone so much?

One minute she felt like a child, all wonder and delight, and the next, a woman.

Fire burst into some kind of atomic bomb, life turns into death and everything that was once in order became chaos.

Why was it that she was cursed with these gifts?

But he'd come sporting into her life.

What was his name again?

Did it really matter when he lay there in the ashes like her father?

Demon blood, she can smell it.

Stinks worse than vinegar.

He was so rough with her she remembered. But not rough that it measured too much pain.

Strange that for all her grief for her father, her worries over the fate of her gifts, she remained jaded.

_Daddy, do you think I could play captain too? _

_Sure pumpkin, anything for my little girl._

The demons came that evening.

It's amazing how people can get scared, so scared they'll step on each other, hide behind another person so they wouldn't get hurt. And even more amazing as demons came to devour flesh by flesh, tearing and ripping and blood everywhere. They possessed no morality or compassion. For the first time in my life, I felt raw fear.

_I'm scared daddy!_

_Hide in the cabin and lock it! Get going!_

He had his whale gun pointed at the most powerful of them all.

The one with the wings like a black angel. Spread out against the now blackened sky.

The one who was ripping his demon friends in half.

If he were tearing them limb by limb, then he was truly the worst of them all.

Loyalty to none.

He looked like a man with black and red veins and you could hear the fire and heart from his body. Pumping wildly like one of those experiments my mother used to do in her laboratory. The one where I could find fascination in them and why people who died smelled funny.

_Hush, child. You need to wear this under your nose._

_What's that mommy?_

_Opium and Henbane._

I knew how a body worked and functioned before I took my first biology class.

But I didn't know about cells and other things that needed more study.

Mother knew them all. It was her lifes work.

So looking at the demon in the sky, I was fascinated.

_Rounds of ammunition fired out of his hands. He was a bloody human with bullets of great balls of fire that shot out, destroying anything that came in contact with with his aim. He was magnificent in his glorious knightly wings. High above the streets and nearing the clouds that you could almost believe that he created the rains and the thunder that came after. _

I wondered how his body pumped blood beneath those powerful limbs?

My father hit him square in the middle of his chest, sending him back into the ocean.

Looking over the edge to see where he went. The depths seem to swallow him whole.

We thought that was the end of him.

But we had other demons on the loose and my father had to reload.

He didn't expect to be catching whales more than once or ever.

They were called harpoon guns and were used during my fathers younger years.

It consisted of a cannon that fired a barbed explosive head harpoon. Aimed and fired, the harpoon barb would hook into the whale.

A moment later an explosive charge in the head of the harpoon would inflict a mortal wound.

Then the whale was retrieved by a winch.

Once along side a whaling vessel, the giant mammal was pumped full of air to keep it afloat, as the once mighty whale was moved to the location of dispensation.

I never liked this practice.

And something inside me knew that the demon who went down in the ocean was not dead.

Nothing could kill that thing.

Whatever it was came back that night.

In the present time, my steps echoed along the ballroom glassy floor. Smooth and slippery it felt, like walking on ice.

My gun held up with both hands beside my ear, as if I were using it to listen to the sounds of the past and the present.

"You still here?"

I shot at him. Instinct gave way.

He naturally avoided it and came up to me.

With strength that I knew he was more than capable of, he took my gun and squeezed it. It was like watching a strong man bend a silver spoon.

"A display of showing off?" I was irritated.

"Hell, babe, if I wanted to show off to you, I'd have shown you more than I've been doing." There was that twinkle in his eye again, like he was playing cat and mouse. Then I did something that was of my character.

I punched him.

"Ouch." He grinned. "You've got a sting there, babe." He touched where I hit him. Then he reached out and touched one of my dark hairs, to the curled part where it lay against my cheek.

"Pretty." Then with frustrated grace, he snarled out. "You need to get the fuck out of here. I don't want to have to save your ass when you can't hold on your own."

"I'm not going anywhere. My goal is to kill you, devil man."

He shook his head.

"Didn't I give you my name?" he laughed, "Sparda. Dante Sparda." Deliberately rolling off his lips like he was making a pun of _James Bond. _

"So I'm just one of the girls to you right?" I hissed back. "Special agent Sparda and the women who want him dead or…."

He raised an inquiring brow at me for the last comment. There was that wicked gleam and he whispered, "or….what?"

Think, _Lady_, of a way to exterminate him. His chest, his body, none of it.

Could I take off his head? Like they do in those immortal _Highlande_r films?

"And what's my goal, little girl? Don't all special agents have to have some kind of plan? Saving the world?"

A barrage of questions and without realizing it, I was walking backwards while he advanced on me. It was not threatening but I felt very small compared to him. As if he could encompass me with his masculinity.

And not with his demonic blood.

His human blood was the part I was afraid of.

My hand thought of the sword at my back. Small and sharp, it could take off his head if I were cunning enough to distract him.

Without notice, a long giant shard, like a huge block of ice pick came out of the shadows.

The Devil in front of me moved slightly to get out of the way but I was blocking him, causing the shard to come straight through his chest, impaling him to the ballroom floor.

Then it came after me.

My shook with the force of the machine guns that blasted the ice blocks that tried to impale me next to Dante.

The icicles were thrown at me in all directions and flipping out of the way, I barely managed to evade them.

My white blouse was ripped.

Now it was splattered with blood and cold water.

But my stamina held.

I kept firing.

It wasn't my intention to save him.

But that he saved himself with the flick of his burning flesh that melted the offending weapon.

He could heal faster than I could.

"Looks like we make a good team, Lady." he grunted, taking off the last piece of shard from his chest.

"I'm saving my ass not yours"

"And speaking of asses." he wiggled his white brows at me, glanced slyly at my behind, and before I could retort, he flew out of reach to meet with the rest of what's behind the shadows.

"Men."

_Daddy!_

I saw a ghost.

She looked like a little pale thing. Dark curls, blue and purple eyes, porcelain like a doll.

Her arms spread out to go to the man that looked like my father.

Laying on the floor, blood everywhere, and his eyes were glazed over.

The tears were flowing down the little girls face.

I was paralyzed.

No. What the hell is going on?

"MOVE"

The sound came from him. I moved on instinct, avoiding a clash of fire and ice.

The devil man flew out of shadows, blasting a series of fire bolts, and with that, revealing the truth.

Where there is light, shadows flee.


	4. The jet lag of consciousness

**THE LIGHT AND THE DARKNESS:** **the jet lag of consciousness**

_Lady:_

He looked almost funny in his devil trigger mode.

What is it? What is all that?

My mind didn't seem to want to register that I had to move. And standing there like a sitting duck wasn't going to keep tabs with the rest of my 5 lives.

4 had gone out the door during childhood.

The truth it seems, with the arms and legs of several creatures stamped the life out of me.

It hit me so hard that all I could see was darkness.

The lights went out from my eyes.

_Father!_

Why did death come to all of us?

Why did we have to die?

_Mother fix it!_

Darkness overcame me. But the tears came.

A tiny thing sat there and watched

Sparda the devil of all devils.

Gold and Red. Like a banner in the sky.

_Mother!_

My mother was a focused scientist. Dedicated. Ambitious

She had no time for me. She had no time for father.

But her experiments were legendary.

What is more important in life?

Glory or the love of your family? Why did she even bother having children?

I should have realized sooner.

That I was another experiment.

What does it bloody matter anymore?

Families can be replaced and you can separate your emotions from people.

I've done it all my life.

Even as I look at the devil in front of me, smirking arrogantly, there could have been feelings.

Feelings that no decent woman of my age should feel for a man with demon in his veins.

There is no substitute for my own father.

The lights must have switched on. The pain was unbearable. It was like eating lead and acid.

The pain in my stomach doubled me over.

Tears of pain blurred my eyes. I felt a light touch at my forehead.

Separating the dark tendrils that must have felt wet.

They felt wet.

Sweat. I was sweating.

"There you are."

His voice, that damnable half devil was the bain of my existence. What did I expect?

Following his ass all over the place?

Gave me rights to it?

As if. Right.

I don't even want to go there. This irritated me to no end.

My eyes blurred. They focused on the whites of his hair. The light bronze skin of his face came into view.

Then his eyes, his smiling eyes looked into mine.

"Ah, that was quite a hit. You should have been more careful."

He joked lightly with me, as if we were friends forever.

I wanted to reach to my guns.

They were disabled. My hands were disabled so it seemed. Pain shot through my veins.

I wanted to kill him. What right did he have?

He must have sensed my disappointment. The change in his face evident.

"Stubborn wench." he teased"Ungrateful too."

Blackness engulfed me again.

I was back again.

In the image of that little girl.

Ever had one of those dreams? Where they take off at a bus transportation speed and everyone on the bus just stares at you as if you had just stepped off from the Space Odyssey? They say that when you go on a trip, in your dreams you still remain back there. Back home.

Home.

Well _Lady_, you're having one of those dreams.

but I'm wide awake and the light and darkness of my consciousness stares back at me like a million pieces of broken mirrors and you're on that bus ride to fame, or on that road to oblivion.

Whichever.

It don't matter really and the creature was not Jabba the Hut in appearance but breadth wise, it could, it encompasses the great bulk and size, and he had an armored body, magnificent arrays of deep encrusted jewels with the pieces of shattered mirrors on his person.

Lovely.

Just bloody fucking lovely.

Dante spared no time to back attack and use his sword. Sharp as it looked, couldn't slice the creature that walked out of the shadows.

Damn if I couldn't maintain my consciousness to the far side of my being.

Damn if I couldn't save the Demon that plagued me for many long months.

The one now getting his royal ass kicked.

The one I wanted to track down for the sins of his father.

I watched in horror as the creature took a swipe and was faster than we both anticipated.

Knocked the demon in the body of a man 50 feet in the air, just in time for him to spread his Angel wings, no Demon wings, not magnificent like his fathers.

Or is it?

No time to lose.

No time to ponder.

As my body was sent spiralling back against the ships walls.

Then the tentacles of it's body came twisting around me.

I could feel the dripping wet slickness of it's skin.

And I could see Dante, the demon man.

He was bleeding.

Like I am now.

Bloody fucking hell.

Is this the result of my weakness? My revenge?

It hurts so bad...

I think I'm dying.

I hope to God that I come back and get that Sparda boy and his twin as a spirit then!

I hope to God that I come back to kill him one way or another...

I hope to God..

I hope...

I...

**Dantes perspective:**

Less than a twenty hour period must have blacked out on _Lady. _Who the hell names their little girl_ Lady_ anyway, pondered Dante. Damn, she was bleeding like a stuck pig and I've managed to put her into emergency room, avoiding suspicious looks at me. Thankfully they were fully trained medics to notice severe wounds on the girl that only a few of them gave me a few wary looks. Maybe to them I was the one who gave her those bleeding wounds.

I must have looked like a ragtag bum out from the streets, but that wasn't my concern. I was concerned with the girl who came after me like a little spitfire on my tail. There was an immediate frantic rush, people in blue and white uniforms setting her onto the bed with four wheels, the paramedics and nurses started to put all kinds of wires on her. Sticking needles into the poor girl. I thought they did away with bleeding in the previous centuries. Now instead of drawing blood they had emergency back up blood that they presumed would help out the little vixen. If that's what they call it-blood bags, but I watched with my eyes scanning each person, noting the way they efficiently and quickly did their usual procedures.

My knowledge of hospitals aren't very known, hell I hardly went there because of my healing abilities. I was asked about her name. Her name?_ Lady_ rolled off my lips and the woman, the interviewer, quickly looked at me with a surprised and strange look but continued on with her clipboard status scribbling away. At what I have no idea. Possibly the situation at hand. Commenting on the details, the time, the condition of the girl when she first arrived, me possibly with the girl in my arms. All cut up, dried blood stuck to me, while hers, she was bleeding so badly I had to use some of my coat materials to stop the blood. Although my own body looked like it went through a bit of hell she asked questions concerning Lady, then asked me if I needed medical attention. Shaking my head I said I was a friend of the patient. The woman set her glasses back up the end tip of her nose right before she gave me a look over at my injuries. Dried blood. Then asked me how the accident happen. It was always like that_. Lies_. I had to make up a damn lie and it was a good thing I was possessed of a creative mind. Now if the rest of the world could be a little creative and believe...

"So when can I see her"

"You can't now, Mr. Sparda." She was scribbling away at her clipboard. Giving me quick glances and repeatedly setting her glasses up against the bridge of her nose. Then she attempted to get a piece of equipment that looked suspiciously like a blood pressure gauge. "But." she said after the long pause. "You can see her when everything has been examined and her wounds been wrapped up and she's able to see you and her immediate family."

She didn't pressure me about Lady's last name, explaining to her that I've only known the girl for a short time and at least that I was telling the truth. I allowed her to take my blood pressure, wondering why the hell did I not get the hell out of there when I had the chance. Just bring her into the emergency room hospital and run like a thief in the night then? I'll just bide my time and wait until the nurse gets all that she needed from me so I can find some way to get into Lady's room.

The girls got healing abilities like mine, I noticed so they're going to find out something about her blood and I'm sure she'll be ready and willing to want me to save her butt out of that prison room. I'll give her spunk that's about it and my questions have not been answered. What does she want from me and why does she want me dead? Most of all I want to know how she was able to kill that man whose body was nothing more than ashes and cinder. It reminded him of the demons he knew from his father's side. Patience is certainly not his virtue and he could sure use a box of pizza and a bottle of beer right now. Hunger pangs always came right after the adrenalin rushes go down and these were after a fight or two. Eating a pizza in between those fights are also a good thing.

A very good thing indeed.

The question repeats itself in my mind: _What does she want from me and why does she want me dead? _If it had to do with my brother, then I can understand. But my father? What has my father done? It appeared as if she didn't know my brother _yet_. Or she gladly will make that acquaintance soon enough. I'm sure that he'd love that. Heh. Vergil could quite possibly have met his match with this little hellfire who packs a shit load of firearms and that's not the one in her little back pocket.

He managed to sneak into the hospital room much later, like _Peter Pans_ shadow, stealth and subterfuge his best friend. He watched the little dark haired young woman who walked into this life seeking revenge, like all those before her. She would be awake anytime now. The wounds look about healed and they'll be genuinely shocked to realize her blood content. How she managed to have a healing ability without any scent of demon blood in her he didn't know. Something _scientific_ perhaps? Those scientists were always out looking for ways to get a Nobel Prize. Some damned good ones too. Discovery at a fast pace that he'd be non existent as a demon and his own lineage so common they'd stop writing stories about him. Yeah right. As if that's going to happen.

Lady's blue and purple eyes opened to see her target standing there, healthy as the first time she laid eyes on him and her arms were stuck with needles and wires, and tubes. Realizing she was in a hospital room. The smell of it reminded her so much of her Mother. The smell of starch, chloroform, sterile linen, with a bit of disinfected lysol. Lady could feel her flashbacks coming back but they didn't. That surprised her. And relieved her as well.

"Ready, babe"

He didn't need to say anything more. She pulled out the tubes from her arms and swung her long legs over the edge of the bed. The coldness of room was hovering in the air and the barely thin hospital cloth that hung on her body opened to show her pink nipples hard upon contact from the air. Dante raised a fair brow. She gave him a glare. Didn't stop him from looking. Lecher.

"Do you mind, Demon"

"Not at all."

She felt like hissing back a smart retort at him, or better yet, send a few bullets his way, but logic made her move in a fast pace to get out of that room before the nurse comes back in to check in on her.

She really didn't have time for cocky bastards like a Sparda demon.

But he kept on talking while she rummaged around the room, undressing herself quickly.

Holding the hospital bed sheet around her.

He watched with great interest.

"I think by now, we're down to first name basis. At least on my end I am obliging. How long are you going to call me _Demon_"

"That's your problem." she said with some difficulty.

"Whatever you say, babe."

"Tell you what. You stop calling me _babe_ and we're even."

He watched her pretty backside with his arms folded.

I ignored him and searched for my clothing. It wasn't anywhere that I could see.

"Here."

He held out my clothes in a neat fold. Down to my panties too.

I hardly blushed.

But I could feel the heat suffusing my cheeks.

The balls of the man.

Trying to find ways for distraction, I asked seriously,

"What happened? What was that thing."

"I'll tell you all about it on the way out."

He had his bike out there waiting for us and he tried to carry me out of the window.

Was chivalry deep down the Sparda blood line too?

How fucking convenient.

More for catching flies, the damned silvery spiders.

"No." my lips moved against his cheek as his arm held me against his person.

"No what, babe? This isn't time for being shy."

"I can do this on my own. I've been doing this since before I met you or any man or demon."

"Suit yourself.."

Was there a bit of admiration in his eyes or amusement at my predicament?

The girl who chased him only to try and stick a few bullets down his throat, and what a fine day it is,

to be saved by the devil himself.

Days later:

Mid length black hair flew behind her, the wind blasting cold and hard against the soft planes of her face but she her expression was set as she stared out into the road ahead of her. There were signs that warned her DANGER but she ignored them. Her fingers tightened on the handlebars and she felt like smoking a cigarette. No matter that she didn't bloody smoke. She was looking for him. The man with hell in his eyes and a debt to repay and that my dear folks, she thought with a quick flash before she made a quick turn on her heavy machine beneath her, was the answer todays little adventure. Red lips puckered as she thought of the reason why she put on a pretty distinct colour, just enough for him to notice. He noticed didn't he? Speaking of which….she turned up the music on her front panel.

**Lady's Perspective:**

God, I felt good. Today was the day and I could feel the adrenaline pump through my veins. I love the feel of it, like jumping off a high building. Did Superman or Spiderman ever feel this good? Or did demons like Dante feel so good when he jumped off any high rise tower? Mine was the feel beneath the rushing atmosphere and the anticipation of meeting him again.

Now to go through the list. Make a checklist in my head.

Check. Yeah he's got skin tight leather. Wild? Check.

Her lips were subject to her straight white teeth, biting down on the lower fullness, almost drawing blood.

Maybe she needed another.

CURVE AHEAD and her legs tightened around her metallic saddle.

He's no ordinary boy. Check twenty times; C.O.O.L. He put the tag on that word.

Now to find him and collect some things but a phone call would do wouldn't it?

Smoke swirled from behind her and the city lights were coming up, illuminating the sky.

DETOUR it warned because the road ahead which was shortly coming to a halt gave her directions to go to the left.

But she wanted to go right. Do the right thing. Always right.

For him, she'd take the left for now. No time for petty stunts. No demons roamed this night of all nights.

Double check on the shirt. White. Again. Didn't she have any other clothes but white and a pair of red boots?

Boots that matched his leather? Coincidence? Or merely color blind?

He was where he'd always be. Cocky sonofabitch wasn't afraid of anything.

It's not a wonder why Hell wanted him and his brother.

He didn't turn when I went up the steps to his little abode.

Shabby. It needed a womans touch.

I looked at my hands.

Nope.

Not from me it won't be.

I knew this and the feeling gave me a mixture of unexplained pain and envy.

_**No ordinary boy is gonna do.** _

He let out a smoke from the cigarette he inhaled.

Watching the smoke leave his mouth, I felt as if I were the one being exhaled.

He spoke and I jumped.

"Skitsy today, babe"

Glancing at me from the top of my dark head to the tips of my red boots, he chuckled,

"I like your style. What are you doing here"

I swallowed.

It was hard for me.

This was very hard for me.

I had too much pride.

But being on the bike, riding free as the wind, made me feel courage.

"To thank you."

"Really" he then looked me in the eye. Got up and I watched him.

He lazily stood up, stretching those strong muscles to his full length.

I knew what I felt. I didnt like it.

This is the bane of my gender.

If a man has got a pair of lovely eyes...

Lovely pair of bums,

lovely lips,

_lovely_...

"You don't mind if I don't believe you, babe" he half laughed.

Then feeling emotions that shouldn't be there.

It's a ruse to keep our gender confused.

Then he raised the bottle that was hidden in the other hand to his lips and took a long swallow.

Hospitality must have been in his family.

Before I knew it he offered me a drink from the same bottle.

The bottle that enclosed around his fingers were inches away. I could take it.

I could touch him.

I could...

I could even kill him.

It's how I've always, always wanted to do. Right?

Let it not be known that _Lady_ was not thankful that he saved my life.

My mother said that life is expendable.

It can be taken just like that.

My father, he said that life is precious.

Maybe because...

because he was a Buddhist?

How the fuck did those two ever get together in the first place?

One cold hearted bitch and a man whose heart couldn't fit the whole world.

"Thanks."

I took the bottle, barely touching his warm fingers.

Then with mechanical movements I raised them to my lips.

I didn't normally drink.

Maybe I was thirsty.

Maybe I just wanted him to watch me raise the bottle to my lips.

Maybe just maybe I liked the way he looked at me.

Maybe because I knew he looked at all women, all girls this way.

"Looks like your wounds healed fast, Lady."

He walked slowly towards me when he whispered those words.

The taste of salty liquid, yeast and barley invaded my tongue.

God damnit. I hated beer.

It eased slowly down my esophagus.

I breathed a little heavier.

Did he notice the colour of my lips today?

Oh yeah. Check.

Father would be proud of me for my courage.

Mother would be prouder still for my determination.

I was quicker than him because I had the advantage. I threw the beer bottle back to him.

His reflexes were legendary right? Sparda boys weren't slow, so he grabbed it.

Preventing it from reaching the ground and took my chance.

My weapon slid off the long sleeves of my white shirt.

I blasted those blessed bullets into his beautiful self.

The beautiful demon is down.

Then I took the blade from whence it lay.

Upon his feet, where it never strays.

So I'm poetic when the blood is rushing to my brain.

I could hear him in the background.

He growled out between his seemingly slow moving lips,

"Little vixen. You're _dead_."

"Let's see about that, Mister Sparda."

No time for words. No time for explanations. Just time for killing.

It was time.

Took his sword and thrusted it into him but not before he took my neck into the strong vise of his hands.

He wasn't phased a bit about getting stuck with swords and being pumped full of bullets.

A veritable figure of steel he was.

We'll see about that.

"I knew you'd do this." he spat out like poison.

Choking, I raised the leg of my right side and bumped it into this groin.

It always gets the guys stunned.

He only laughed.

"I've got that protected, babe."

I looked at him with a slight surprise. Not because he couldn't control the word _babe_ that came easily to him,

but because he had the god damn audacity to protect his jewels.

Then I realized I needed to get out of there.

The blood was oozing out of him. I managed to pump those bullets inside of his body.

Those should do.

He could kill me with the snap of his fingers, digging deep into my throat.

But I choked out:

"You wanted to know right? How I killed that man on the street"

Hesitating his hold, then relaxed.

His silver blues scanned my face.

Perhaps looking for more lies.

"No more games. I've had a shitload of it already." he grated out between those hard set lips.

So I stared at them. Liked them. It was easier for me this time around.

Doing the impossible was what my mother told me to do.

It was my fathers voice that urged me to have caution.

To protect me from boys like him.

From my own violation, I kissed him full on the mouth.

That would stop him. I hoped.

The surprise registered in his eyes and gave his assent as he allowed me to kiss him.

Just in time for me to start up my fire.

My bullets full of carbon dioxide and propane.

Types of gasoline that will combust his inside.

I was after all, Mothers experiment. And Father's little girl for I was...

The_ Firestarter_.


End file.
